Received to read for the Elle Readers' Prize.

Hamilton's writing is good, but this book is a disappointment which is unfortunate given the praise for the rest of her work. This book is the loosely strung together memories of the narrator the less than engaging Mac Maciver. I went into this expecting it to be more about Madeline, the brain damaged sister/"step-mother" (?), but it wasn't so. It delved more into the family's political squabbles, Mac's adventures with his mostly irritating cousin Buddy, and Mac's weird insecurities and boring overeducated tangents. While the quality of the writing is excellent and Hamilton even happens on a few moments of profound truth...the plot to this book is nearly non-existent and the characters aren't engaging enough to help you forget that point.

RELEASE NOTES:

A wishlist RABCK! Enjoy! =)

I LOVE RABCKs!!
Thank you so very much yourotherleft!!!
Looking forward to reading this!!

The whole idea of this book is extremely off kilter. Madeline is injured in a bike accident and has brain damage. The impact sends her back to being a 6 year old. Forever. Her husband quietly divorces her and marries her nurse. Madeline stays with them and is treated like family. Julia, the new wife, has 2 kids. This novel is told from the point of view of the son, Mac. He goes back and forth between time remembering his life as a kid and the interactions of other family members like his Aunt Figgy and Cousin Buddy. And Madeline who was the enigma and the part she played in everyone’s life. Mac says “If it wasn’t for her accident, I wouldn’t be here”. I had a difficult time trying to figure out what the maid idea of this story was. This wasn’t really about Madeline, per se. It was about the whole family. I felt like the author was trying to unveil many different themes when maybe she should have focused on one. She touched on the Vietnam war, racism, people with disability among others. I think the lack of focus really took a way from this. I had a hard time with the subject matter to begin with and the writing style made it even worse. At times, the reading became tedious. This is due to the fact that there wasn’t really any climax to this book. It kind of plotted along without any real direction and that frustrated me as a reader. I have 2 other Jane Hamilton books I haven’t read yet. I hope this was her worst. I’m not sure I have the energy to plod thru another one like this.

Sending to FL as a mooch